Hypodermic needle honing device



March 1952 J. B. G. CUSTIS ET AL 2,588,089

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE HONING DEVICE Filed Oct. 21, 1948 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 mhlllllllllllllllllllllllllllllifillli m, J] i 5.

J A I 2 INVENTORS L/E. Casizls candid? 0.55, B

March 4, 1952 J. B. G. CUSTIS ET AL 2,588,089

HYPODERMIC NEEDLE HONING DEVICE Filed Oct. 21, 1948 2 SHEETS-49am? Patented Mar. 4, 1952 HYPODERMIC NEEDLE HONING DEVICE James B. G. Custis and Ernest R. Post, Washington, D. 0.; American Security and Trust Company, executor of said James B. G. Custis, deceased, assignor to Inez May Custis, Washington, D. 0.

Application October 21, 1948, Serial No. 55,776

1 Claim.

This invention relates to practical devices for quickly and accurately honing a hypodermic needle having a hollow ground tapered or concave bevelled point, regardless of the angle of the bevel of said point.

There are in use generally three types of hypodermic needles, as regards the angle of the bevel of the point of the needle. They are (l) the long bevelled point, (2) the medium bevelled point, and (3) the short bevelled point. The first is the one most commonly in use for injections, since it provides easier penetration, and is less painful than the shorter bevelled points. The second is for spinal and intravenous diagnostic and medication purposes, while the third is for lesser penetration depth spinal and intravenous work. There is no definite standard angle prescribed for any of these types of needles, although their approximate angles are 20, 35 and 50, respectively.

The quickest and easiest way to sharpen any needle is obviously to maintain its bevel angle, whatever it may be.

One object of the present invention is the construction of a simple, durable and accurate means for quickly sharpening a hypodermic needle point at any desired angle, or at the same angle at which the point is already bevelled, regardless of the size of the angle.

Another object is to construct a bevel maintaining and honing device. for hypodermic needles mounted on a base and having a rotatably adjustable, horizontally mounted hone thereon, and a needle holder slidably and rotatably mounted on a shaft parallel to said hone for holding the needle point in honing position with respect to said hone while the holder is manually moved back and forth along said shaft.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a honing device for hypodermic needles wherein the hone per se is elongated and ovate in cross section, the hone being rotatably adjustable on its longitudinal axis to present a curved surface thereof mating with the usual hollow ground taper or bevel at the end of the hypodermic needle with the latter removably mounted in a chuck and reciprocated on a line parallel with the hone and with the hollow ground taper of the needle movable over the hone for sharpening purposes. 1

Another object is to have the above needle holder provide means for firmly gripping the needle shank in a position normal to, but spaced from said shaft a distance approximately equal 2 to the difference in height between the shaft and the hone.

A further object is to provide self-locking means for finely adjusting said hone by fixing a worm gear to the bearing at one of the ends of said hone, and having a worm meshing with it, operated by a knob mounted on one end of the worm shaft.

A further object is to use an oval sectioned hone and to make said hone quickly reversible by providing bearings at its ends with oval sockets to closely fit said ends, and to make one of said bearings axially slidable and resiliently biased toward said hone, but movable manually away from said hone to permit it to be removed and reversed to present a fresh honing surface without altering the angle thereof.

Another object is to provide a base board of an extended area under said base, held to said base by machine screws passed through both the base board and the base, and into the supports for the hone bearings and the shaft, and having their heads countersunk in said base board, whereby a neat appearing, eificient honing device may be made with a plastic or other smooth finished material for the base board, and finishedsurface metal parts for the rest of the device outside of the hone, with no obstructions in the way of the operating parts.

Other and more specific objects will appear in the course of the following detailed description of an illustrative embodiment of the present invention, having reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a plan view of the device,

Figure 2 is a front elevation thereof,

Figure 3 is an end elevation thereof,

Figure 4 is a longitudinal section thereof taken on the line 4-4 of Figure l,

Figures 5 and 6 are transverse sections taken on the lines 5-5 and 66 respectively of Fig. 1, and

Figure '7 is a section taken through the quick release chuck means for gripping the needle to be honed, and is taken on the line of Figure 1.

The device illustrated has a plastic base board I, a base 2 of metal with chrome plating and the rest of the parts are also of chrome-plated metal, except the hone 3. Obviously any other suitable materials for some or all of these parts may be used.

The hone 3 is uniformly oval in cross section throughout its length with flat parallel ends at right angles to its length, and is held in close- 3 fitting sockets in bearings 4 and 5 at its ends rotatably mounted in supports 6 and 1 respectively. The bearing 4 is provided with a worm gear 8 which meshes with a worm 9, in the support 6, and having a shaft extending in front of the support. A knob H is mounted on this shaft for turning operation to adjust the rotational position of the hone. This construction provides a self-locking and fine adjusting means.

The other bearing is slidable axially within the support I besides being rotatable therein, but is normally resiliently biased against the end of the hone 3 by the pressure spring l2. Thus, by pressing the bearing 5 intothe support, the hone may be removed and turned end for end, or rotated 180, or both, and replaced for immediate use in reversed position, without producing any substantial change in the honing angle with respect to any needle that might be held in honing position in the device, as hereinaftermore fully described.

A shaft I3 is mounted in smaller supports 14 and I5, so as to extend in a direction parallel to the hone 3 outwardly of and below the same. A needle holder consisting of a quick-releasechuck means having a body portion I6 is rotatably mounted in a frame I! and locked therein by set screw [8. The frame H is slidably mounted on the shaft l3. The portion I6 has an opening 19 extending through the center thereof for insertion of the needle 20 to be sharpened. This opening is normal to and spaced from the shaft l3 9. distance substantially equal to the difference in height between the shaft and the hone so that the needle 20 extends substantially horizontally, whereby the hollow ground taper or concaved bevel point of the needle can be easily and accurately mated with the variably transversely convexly curved surface of the uniformly oval hone 3 by fine rotative adjustment of the latter and positive holding thereof in accurately adjusted position by the worm gear means not possible with a screw shank or stud and clamping not especially after constant use and working loose as a result thereof to inefiectively clamp a sharpening stone or hone, as for instance, in the patents now existing in the prior art.

The body portion l6 also has three radially slidable equi-angularly spaced gripping members or fingers 2| about the opening [9. A ring 22 is mounted rotatably around said body portion, and has three internal wedging cams 23 for cooperation with the outer ends of said gripping members to push them inwardly simultaneously. to grip the needle shank firmly. upon turning the ring 22 in one direction, and releasing it when the ring is turned in reverse direction. Springs 24 are provided in the body portion I6 for biasing said gripping members 2| radially outwardly against their respective cams 23. i

The ring 22 is provided with a short lug or radial knob 25, extending from the periphery of the ring, to facilitate turning the ring with the fingers or gripping members 2| in one direction or the other. By releasing the set screw IS, the body portion I6 may be turned to any angular position to provide the range of movement of the lug or knob 25 and wedging action of the cams 23 against the gripping members 2| to force them inwardly to firmly grip the needle 20 at the shank thereof and hold it in position to be honed, or to permit normal release thereof under the biasing action or radially outward thrust of the springs or resilient means 24 in any suitable location about said needle holder.

Machine screws 26 are passed through the bottom of the base 2 into the supports 6 and I, and have their heads countersunk in the base 2, while machine screws 21 are passed through both the base board I and the base 2 and into the supports 6 and I as well as the smaller supports l4 and I5, and have their heads countersunk in the bottom of the base board I. This makes a rigid yet simple and effective honing device, in which any needle may be inserted and the honing stone 3 quickly adjusted to produce the desired bevel angle. The needle holder is then grasped between the fingers and moved back and forth to rub the needle point along the surface of the hone with any desired pressure until the needle is properly sharpened. In the course of this honing process, the hone may be quickly reversed either end for endor rotationally or both, as already described above, to present a fresh honing surface without altering the angular adjustment of this surface.

Obvious modifications in the form and arrangement of parts may be made without departing from the spirit or scope of this invention, as defined in the appended claim.

What is claimed is: I

A bevel maintaining and honing device for hypodermic needles having a hollow ground tapered or concaved beveled point, comprising a base, a pair of bearing supports thereon, a hone of uniform oval cross-section throughout its length having bearings at its ends rotatably mounted in said supports, one of said supports having a pocket therein, a self-locking manually actuated gear drive rotatably mounted in said pocket and including a worm having an operating head exteriorly of the support and a coacting worm wheelv on the adjacent end bearing of the hone for rotatably adjusting said hone with its bearings through at least 360, a shaft fixed to said base radially spaced from, below and parallel to said hone, a needleholder rotatably and slidably mounted on said shaft, and quick-release gripping means in said holder for firmly gripping a needle axially in said holder in substantially horizontal honing position transversely of and radially spaced from said shaft to engage the curved top surface of the hone at the front thereof whereby adjustment of the hone will cause the point of the needle. to engage the hone at an angle corresponding to the angle at which the point-of the needlev is hollow ground beveled.

JAMES B. G. CUSTIS. ERNEST R. POST.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 

